Album musical
Encyclopedia
An album musical is a type of recording that sounds like an original cast album
but is created specifically for the recording medium and is complete entertainment product in itself, rather than just promoting or reflecting an existing or planned musical theatre
production or revue
. Although there has been no one term consistently used to describe this type of recording, the genre predates the use of the term "concept album
" by several decades, dating back to the era of 78-rpm records with such original works as Gordon Jenkins
' Manhattan Tower
(1946) and The Letter (1959) starring Judy Garland, and Stan Freberg
's Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America, Volume One: The Early Years
(1961). On most contemporary concept albums, the performers or bands sing as themselves, whereas on an album musical the performers are playing characters in a story.
Some original album musicals have later been expanded into staged musicals, including You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
(which was specifically labeled an "Original Album Musical") and, beginning in the late 1960s, such notable rock musical
s as Tim Rice
, Björn Ulvaeus
and Benny Andersson
's Chess
and The Who
's Tommy. Although Andrew Lloyd Webber
and Tim Rice
may have been anticipating later stage productions when they recorded their two-LP albums of Jesus Christ Superstar
and Evita, at the time of their initial release they were, in essence, album musicals.
who created a set of 78 rpm records in 1946 called Manhattan Tower
and later expanded the dialogue and music in 1956 to take advantage of the longer playing time of LP records
. Although Manhattan Tower
was performed in concert halls, Las Vegas, on television (with Ethel Waters
, Cesar Romero
and Phil Harris
) and later re-recorded on separate record albums by both Patti Page
and Robert Goulet
, it was never actually presented as a stage musical. Jenkins later created the album musicals California: A Musical Narrative, Seven Dreams, and The Letter starring Judy Garland
.
In 1954, David Lippincott
, a jingle
writer at McCann-Erickson, an advertising agency
, wrote the music and lyrics for an album musical called The Body in the Seine
, featuring Broadway performers Alice Pearce
and George S. Irving
, among others, in the hope of finding a book writer to expand his score into a Broadway musical. Because of the limited release of the album, The Body in the Seine
is one of the rarest album musicals.
A 1957 MGM recording, Frankie and Johnny, with music by Robert Cobert
and lyrics by Dion McGregor
, featured Danny Scholl (Top Banana
), Joan Coburn (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
), Nat Frey (Damn Yankees
) and MGM recording artist Mary Mayo. Also in the cast were Frank Aletter
(Bells Are Ringing
), Peggy Cass
(Auntie Mame
) and William Lanteau (Newhart
). The recording, which features dialogue and songs, is a complete musical drama with orchestrations by Philip J. Lang. It is unrelated to the 1966 movie starring Elvis Presley
.
A 1959 album musical called Clara, featuring Broadway performers Betty Garrett
(Call Me Mister
) and James Komack
(Damn Yankees
), was subsequently expanded into a Broadway musical called Beg, Borrow or Steal that played five performances at the Martin Beck Theater in February 1960. Betty Garrett, repeating her role from the record, was joined on stage by her husband, Larry Parks
, Biff McGuire
and Eddie Bracken
.
One of the best-selling album musicals of the early 1960s was Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America, Volume One: The Early Years
, released in 1961 on Capitol Records
and billed as "An Original Musical Review Created Specifically For Stereo" (or "For Records," in the monaural
version). Stan Freberg
's extravagant musical comedy dealt with the birth of the United States of America in satiric terms and featured original songs, sketches and even dancing (tap-dancing Indians). Freberg had planned to release at least two follow-up albums, but he was approached by producer David Merrick
with an offer to move the work to Broadway. By the time the proposed production was cancelled, Freberg had moved on to other projects and Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America, Volume Two was not released until 1996, with several of the surviving cast members from the original album, along with several new performers.
In 1963, The Ballad Of Fanny Hill
, a double-record
set subtitled "An Original Musical Monodrama
Based Upon the Book Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure
by John Cleland," was released on Fax Records, a label noted primarily for its suggestive comedy LPs. Although authorship credit on the LP jacket is given to "Charles Sydney" and "Gerald Coates," the recording, which featured the bawdy
humor of the novel, was actually the product of lyricist
Sid Kuller and composer
/musical director Gerald Dolin. The solo
performer is the pseudonym
ous Julie Hamilton.
Clark Gesner
's album musical, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
, which had been released on MGM's children's label Leo Records as an "Original Album Musical," was successfully expanded into a long-running Off-Broadway
musical in 1967. MGM also released the Original Cast Recording
of the stage show.
Melvin Van Peebles
' darkly comic and explicit 1970 album, Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death
, became a Tony
-nominated Broadway musical in October 1971, interpolating material from two of Van Peebles' other albums, Br'er Soul
and As Serious as a Heart-Attack
, as well.
A number of popular rock musical
s (or "rock opera
s") began as original album musicals, including Jesus Christ Superstar
, Evita, Chess
, The Who's Tommy and American Idiot
.
An interesting variation on the album musical is A Complete Authentic Minstrel Show released in both monaural
and stereo
in 1958 on the budget label, Somerset Records. The album is a compilation of classic songs and jokes featured in American minstrel show
s, a form of entertainment that was popular during the later 19th and early 20th Centuries. Because of the often negative stereotype
s of African-Americans, the genre quickly lost public favor with the birth of the civil rights movement
. Although the recorded material is not original, the fact that the album simulates a live stage performance (without actually be derived from such a performance) makes it a form of album musical. Epic Records
released two minstrel show recordings of its own a few years later called Gentlemen, Be Seated! and its sequel, Gentlemen, Be Seated! (Again). Similar albums were created that simulate old vaudeville
and burlesque
shows.
Cast recording
A cast recording is a recording of a musical that is intended to document the songs as they were performed in the show and experienced by the audience. An original cast recording, as the name implies, features the voices of the show's original cast...
but is created specifically for the recording medium and is complete entertainment product in itself, rather than just promoting or reflecting an existing or planned musical theatre
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
production or revue
Revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
. Although there has been no one term consistently used to describe this type of recording, the genre predates the use of the term "concept album
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
" by several decades, dating back to the era of 78-rpm records with such original works as Gordon Jenkins
Gordon Jenkins
Gordon Hill Jenkins was an American arranger, composer and pianist who was an influential figure in popular music in the 1940s and 1950s, renowned for his lush string arrangements...
' Manhattan Tower
Manhattan Tower
"Manhattan Tower" can refer to:*Manhattan Tower, a 1932 movie*Albums by Gordon Jenkins:**Manhattan Tower, a 1946 album on Decca Records**Manhattan Tower, a 1956 album on Capitol Records, an enlargement of the 1946 album...
(1946) and The Letter (1959) starring Judy Garland, and Stan Freberg
Stan Freberg
Stanley Victor "Stan" Freberg is an American author, recording artist, animation voice actor, comedian, radio personality, puppeteer, and advertising creative director whose career began in 1944...
's Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America, Volume One: The Early Years
Stan Freberg Presents The United States of America Volume One The Early Years
Stan Freberg Presents The United States of America: Volume One The Early Years is an American comedy album with music and dialogue written by Stan Freberg, released as Capitol W/SW-1573 in 1961. Freberg parodies episodes of the history of the United States from 1492 until the end of the...
(1961). On most contemporary concept albums, the performers or bands sing as themselves, whereas on an album musical the performers are playing characters in a story.
Some original album musicals have later been expanded into staged musicals, including You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown is a 1967 musical comedy with music and lyrics by Clark Gesner, based on the characters created by cartoonist Charles M. Schulz in his comic strip Peanuts...
(which was specifically labeled an "Original Album Musical") and, beginning in the late 1960s, such notable rock musical
Rock musical
A rock musical is a musical theatre work with rock music. The genre of rock musical may overlap somewhat with album musicals, concept albums and song cycles, as they sometimes tell a story through the rock music, and some album musicals and concept albums become rock musicals...
s as Tim Rice
Tim Rice
Sir Timothy Miles Bindon "Tim" Rice is an British lyricist and author.An Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Tony Award and Grammy Award-winning lyricist, Rice is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus...
, Björn Ulvaeus
Björn Ulvaeus
Björn Kristian Ulvaeus is a Swedish songwriter, composer, musician, writer, producer, a former member of the Swedish musical group ABBA , and co-composer of the musicals Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla, and Mamma Mia!...
and Benny Andersson
Benny Andersson
Göran Bror "Benny" Andersson is a Swedish musician, composer, a former member of the Swedish musical group ABBA , and co-composer of the musicals Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla, and Mamma Mia!...
's Chess
Chess (musical)
Chess is a musical with music by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, formerly of ABBA, and with lyrics by Tim Rice. The story involves a romantic triangle between two top players, an American and a Russian, in a world chess championship, and a woman who manages one and falls in love with the other;...
and The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
's Tommy. Although Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
and Tim Rice
Tim Rice
Sir Timothy Miles Bindon "Tim" Rice is an British lyricist and author.An Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Tony Award and Grammy Award-winning lyricist, Rice is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus...
may have been anticipating later stage productions when they recorded their two-LP albums of Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Tim Rice. The musical started off as a rock opera concept recording before its first staging on Broadway in 1971...
and Evita, at the time of their initial release they were, in essence, album musicals.
Recordings
The album musical as a distinct type of recording was popularized by composer/conductor Gordon JenkinsGordon Jenkins
Gordon Hill Jenkins was an American arranger, composer and pianist who was an influential figure in popular music in the 1940s and 1950s, renowned for his lush string arrangements...
who created a set of 78 rpm records in 1946 called Manhattan Tower
Manhattan Tower
"Manhattan Tower" can refer to:*Manhattan Tower, a 1932 movie*Albums by Gordon Jenkins:**Manhattan Tower, a 1946 album on Decca Records**Manhattan Tower, a 1956 album on Capitol Records, an enlargement of the 1946 album...
and later expanded the dialogue and music in 1956 to take advantage of the longer playing time of LP records
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
. Although Manhattan Tower
Manhattan Tower
"Manhattan Tower" can refer to:*Manhattan Tower, a 1932 movie*Albums by Gordon Jenkins:**Manhattan Tower, a 1946 album on Decca Records**Manhattan Tower, a 1956 album on Capitol Records, an enlargement of the 1946 album...
was performed in concert halls, Las Vegas, on television (with Ethel Waters
Ethel Waters
Ethel Waters was an American blues, jazz and gospel vocalist and actress. She frequently performed jazz, big band, and pop music, on the Broadway stage and in concerts, although she began her career in the 1920s singing blues.Her best-known recordings includes, "Dinah", "Birmingham Bertha",...
, Cesar Romero
Cesar Romero
Cesar Julio Romero, Jr. was an American film and television actor who was active in film, radio, and television for almost sixty years...
and Phil Harris
Phil Harris
Harris and Faye married in 1941; it was a second marriage for both and lasted 54 years, until Harris's death. Harris engaged in a fistfight at the Trocadero nightclub in 1938 with RKO studio mogul Bob Stevens; the cause was reported to be over Faye after Stevens and Faye had ended a romantic...
) and later re-recorded on separate record albums by both Patti Page
Patti Page
Clara Ann Fowler , known by her professional name Patti Page, is an American singer, one of the best-known female artists in traditional pop music. She was the best-selling female artist of the 1950s, and has sold over 100 million records...
and Robert Goulet
Robert Goulet
Robert Gerard Goulet was a Canadian American entertainer as a singer and actor. He played the role of Lancelot in the Broadway musical Camelot of 1960.-Early life:...
, it was never actually presented as a stage musical. Jenkins later created the album musicals California: A Musical Narrative, Seven Dreams, and The Letter starring Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
.
In 1954, David Lippincott
David McCord Lippincott
David McCord Lippincott was an American composer and lyricist.-Education:David McCord Lippincott wrote music and lyrics from an early age. The first evidence of that is a musical revue he wrote while attending the Hotchkiss School called "Little Boy Blue"...
, a jingle
Jingle
A jingle is a short tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. The jingle contains one or more hooks and lyrics that explicitly promote the product being advertised, usually through the use of one or more advertising slogans. Ad buyers use jingles in radio and television...
writer at McCann-Erickson, an advertising agency
Advertising agency
An advertising agency or ad agency is a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients. An ad agency is independent from the client and provides an outside point of view to the effort of selling the client's products or services...
, wrote the music and lyrics for an album musical called The Body in the Seine
The Body in the Seine
The Body in the Seine is an original "album musical" created by songwriter David M. Lippincott and given a limited release in 1954. Because of its rarity, many collectors of original cast albums consider it "the holy grail" of recordings....
, featuring Broadway performers Alice Pearce
Alice Pearce
Alicia “Alice” Pearce was an American actress. Brought to Hollywood by Gene Kelly to reprise her Broadway performance in the film version of On the Town , Pearce played comedic supporting roles in several films, before being cast as Gladys Kravitz in Bewitched in 1964...
and George S. Irving
George S. Irving
George S. Irving is an American actor, known primarily for his character roles on Broadway. Born George Irving Shelasky in Springfield, Massachusetts, he made his debut in the original 1943 production of Oklahoma!, only to be drafted days later to serve in World War II...
, among others, in the hope of finding a book writer to expand his score into a Broadway musical. Because of the limited release of the album, The Body in the Seine
The Body in the Seine
The Body in the Seine is an original "album musical" created by songwriter David M. Lippincott and given a limited release in 1954. Because of its rarity, many collectors of original cast albums consider it "the holy grail" of recordings....
is one of the rarest album musicals.
A 1957 MGM recording, Frankie and Johnny, with music by Robert Cobert
Robert Cobert
Robert "Bob" Cobert is an American musical composer who has written for television and movies. He is best known for his work for the TV mini-series The Winds of War and War and Remembrance. Together, the film scores for these two movies constitute the longest film score ever written for a movie...
and lyrics by Dion McGregor
Dion McGregor
Dion McGregor was a New York City-born songwriter, whose main claim to fame is that he was a voluble dreamer, or somniloquist.As a songwriter, McGregor's biggest success came when his song "Where Is The Wonder" was recorded by Barbra Streisand on her hit album My Name Is Barbra...
, featured Danny Scholl (Top Banana
Top Banana
Top Banana is an environmentally-themed platform game produced by Hex and Psycore for the Acorn Archimedes in 1991 and ported to the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST in 1992. The chief artist and coder was Miles Visman, with supporting graphics and sound by Karel Dander, and supporting graphics by...
), Joan Coburn (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (musical)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is a musical with a book by Joseph Fields and Anita Loos, lyrics by Leo Robin, and music by Jule Styne, based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Loos...
), Nat Frey (Damn Yankees
Damn Yankees
Damn Yankees is a musical comedy with a book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop and music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The story is a modern retelling of the Faust legend set during the 1950s in Washington, D.C., during a time when the New York Yankees dominated Major League...
) and MGM recording artist Mary Mayo. Also in the cast were Frank Aletter
Frank Aletter
Frank Aletter was an American stage, film, and television actor.During the 1950s Aletter appeared on Broadway in Bells Are Ringing, Time Limit, and Wish You Were Here. He soon moved on to a prolific television career, appearing as a guest on numerous shows between 1956 and 1988.Aletter starred in...
(Bells Are Ringing
Bells Are Ringing (musical)
Bells Are Ringing is a musical with a book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Jule Styne. The story revolves around Ella, who works at an answering service and the characters that she meets there. The main character was based on Mary Printz, who worked for Green's answering...
), Peggy Cass
Peggy Cass
Mary Margaret “Peggy” Cass was an American actress, comedian, game show panelist, and announcer.A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Cass became interested in acting as a member of the drama club at Cambridge Latin School; however, she attended all of high school without a speaking part...
(Auntie Mame
Auntie Mame (film)
Auntie Mame is a 1958 film based on the novel by Patrick Dennis and its theatrical adaptation by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee. This film version stars Rosalind Russell and was directed by Morton DaCosta...
) and William Lanteau (Newhart
Newhart
Newhart is a television situation comedy starring comedian Bob Newhart and actress Mary Frann as an author and wife who owned and operated an inn located in a small, rural Vermont town that was home to many eccentric characters. The show aired on the CBS network from October 25, 1982 to May 21, 1990...
). The recording, which features dialogue and songs, is a complete musical drama with orchestrations by Philip J. Lang. It is unrelated to the 1966 movie starring Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
.
A 1959 album musical called Clara, featuring Broadway performers Betty Garrett
Betty Garrett
Betty Garrett was an American actress, comedienne, singer and dancer who originally performed on Broadway before being signed to a film contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer...
(Call Me Mister
Call Me Mister
Call Me Mister is a revue with sketches by Arnold Auerbach and words and music by Harold Rome. The title refers to returning soldiers who expected to be addressed as civilians instead of by their military rank....
) and James Komack
James Komack
James Komack was an American actor, writer and film producer. Komack was in the original cast of the Broadway musical Damn Yankees and also in the film version; in both productions, he was one of the baseball players who perform the song " Heart"...
(Damn Yankees
Damn Yankees
Damn Yankees is a musical comedy with a book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop and music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The story is a modern retelling of the Faust legend set during the 1950s in Washington, D.C., during a time when the New York Yankees dominated Major League...
), was subsequently expanded into a Broadway musical called Beg, Borrow or Steal that played five performances at the Martin Beck Theater in February 1960. Betty Garrett, repeating her role from the record, was joined on stage by her husband, Larry Parks
Larry Parks
Larry Parks was an American stage and movie actor. He was born Samuel Klausman Lawrence Parks. His career was virtually ended when he admitted to having once been a member of a Communist party cell, which led to his blacklisting by all Hollywood studios.-Background:Parks grew up in Joliet,...
, Biff McGuire
Biff McGuire
William "Biff" McGuire is an American actor. In recent years he has used the name William Biff McGuire professionally....
and Eddie Bracken
Eddie Bracken
Edward Vincent "Eddie" Bracken was an American actor.-Life and career:Bracken was born in Astoria, New York, the son of Catherine and Joseph L. Bracken. Bracken performed in vaudeville at the age of nine and gained fame with the Broadway musical Too Many Girls in a role he reprised for the 1940...
.
One of the best-selling album musicals of the early 1960s was Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America, Volume One: The Early Years
Stan Freberg Presents The United States of America Volume One The Early Years
Stan Freberg Presents The United States of America: Volume One The Early Years is an American comedy album with music and dialogue written by Stan Freberg, released as Capitol W/SW-1573 in 1961. Freberg parodies episodes of the history of the United States from 1492 until the end of the...
, released in 1961 on Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
and billed as "An Original Musical Review Created Specifically For Stereo" (or "For Records," in the monaural
Monaural
Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction is single-channel. Typically there is only one microphone, one loudspeaker, or channels are fed from a common signal path...
version). Stan Freberg
Stan Freberg
Stanley Victor "Stan" Freberg is an American author, recording artist, animation voice actor, comedian, radio personality, puppeteer, and advertising creative director whose career began in 1944...
's extravagant musical comedy dealt with the birth of the United States of America in satiric terms and featured original songs, sketches and even dancing (tap-dancing Indians). Freberg had planned to release at least two follow-up albums, but he was approached by producer David Merrick
David Merrick
David Merrick was a prolific Tony Award-winning American theatrical producer.-Life and career:Born David Lee Margulois to Jewish parents in St. Louis, Missouri, Merrick graduated from Washington University, then studied law at the Jesuit-run Saint Louis University School of Law...
with an offer to move the work to Broadway. By the time the proposed production was cancelled, Freberg had moved on to other projects and Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America, Volume Two was not released until 1996, with several of the surviving cast members from the original album, along with several new performers.
In 1963, The Ballad Of Fanny Hill
Fanny Hill
Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure is an erotic novel by John Cleland first published in England in 1748...
, a double-record
Double album
A double album is an audio album which spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically records and compact discs....
set subtitled "An Original Musical Monodrama
Monodrama
A monodrama is a theatrical or operatic piece played by a single actor or singer, usually portraying one character.- Monodrama in opera :...
Based Upon the Book Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure
Fanny Hill
Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure is an erotic novel by John Cleland first published in England in 1748...
by John Cleland," was released on Fax Records, a label noted primarily for its suggestive comedy LPs. Although authorship credit on the LP jacket is given to "Charles Sydney" and "Gerald Coates," the recording, which featured the bawdy
Ribaldry
Ribaldry is humorous entertainment that ranges from bordering on indelicacy to gross indecency. It is also referred to as "bawdiness", "gaminess" or "bawdry"....
humor of the novel, was actually the product of lyricist
Lyricist
A lyricist is a songwriter who specializes in lyrics. A singer who writes the lyrics to songs is a singer-lyricist. This differentiates from a singer-composer, who composes the song's melody.-Collaboration:...
Sid Kuller and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
/musical director Gerald Dolin. The solo
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
performer is the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
ous Julie Hamilton.
Clark Gesner
Clark Gesner
Clark Gesner was an American composer, songwriter, author, and actor. He is probably best known for composing You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, a musical adaptation of the Charles M...
's album musical, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown is a 1967 musical comedy with music and lyrics by Clark Gesner, based on the characters created by cartoonist Charles M. Schulz in his comic strip Peanuts...
, which had been released on MGM's children's label Leo Records as an "Original Album Musical," was successfully expanded into a long-running Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
musical in 1967. MGM also released the Original Cast Recording
Cast recording
A cast recording is a recording of a musical that is intended to document the songs as they were performed in the show and experienced by the audience. An original cast recording, as the name implies, features the voices of the show's original cast...
of the stage show.
Melvin Van Peebles
Melvin Van Peebles
Melvin "Block" Van Peebles is an American actor, director, screenwriter, playwright, novelist and composer.He is most famous for creating the acclaimed film, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, which heralded a new era of African American focused films...
' darkly comic and explicit 1970 album, Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death
Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death
Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death is a musical with a book, music, and lyrics by Melvin Van Peebles. The musical contains some material also on three of Van Peebles' albums, Br'er Soul, Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death and As Serious as a Heart-Attack, some of which were yet to come...
, became a Tony
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
-nominated Broadway musical in October 1971, interpolating material from two of Van Peebles' other albums, Br'er Soul
Br'er Soul
Brer Soul is a 1969 album by Melvin Van Peebles.- SIDE ONE :# LILLY DONE THE ZAMPOUGHI EVERYTIME I PULLED HER COATTAIL 7:15# MIRROR MIRROR ON THE WALL 4:39# THE COOLEST PLACE IN TOWN 3:17# YOU CAN GET UP BEFORE NOON WITHOUT BEING A SQUARE 3:27...
and As Serious as a Heart-Attack
As Serious As A Heart-Attack
As Serious As A Heart-Attack is an album by Melvin Van Peebles. The album's cover can be briefly glimpsed on the bathroom door in the 1973 film version of Van Peebles' musical Don't Play Us Cheap.-Cityside 2:#JUST DONT MAKE NO SENSE#DEARMISTUH...
, as well.
A number of popular rock musical
Rock musical
A rock musical is a musical theatre work with rock music. The genre of rock musical may overlap somewhat with album musicals, concept albums and song cycles, as they sometimes tell a story through the rock music, and some album musicals and concept albums become rock musicals...
s (or "rock opera
Rock opera
A rock opera is a work of rock music that presents a storyline told over multiple parts, songs or sections in the manner of opera. A rock opera differs from a conventional rock album, which usually includes songs that are not unified by a common theme or narrative. More recent developments include...
s") began as original album musicals, including Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Tim Rice. The musical started off as a rock opera concept recording before its first staging on Broadway in 1971...
, Evita, Chess
Chess (musical)
Chess is a musical with music by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, formerly of ABBA, and with lyrics by Tim Rice. The story involves a romantic triangle between two top players, an American and a Russian, in a world chess championship, and a woman who manages one and falls in love with the other;...
, The Who's Tommy and American Idiot
American Idiot (musical)
American Idiot is a one-act, through-sung stage musical. The show is an adaptation of punk rock band Green Day's concept album of the same name. Additional Green Day songs were interpolated from other sources, including 21st Century Breakdown, American Idiot b-sides, and an unreleased song called...
.
An interesting variation on the album musical is A Complete Authentic Minstrel Show released in both monaural
Monaural
Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction is single-channel. Typically there is only one microphone, one loudspeaker, or channels are fed from a common signal path...
and stereo
STEREO
STEREO is a solar observation mission. Two nearly identical spacecraft were launched into orbits that cause them to respectively pull farther ahead of and fall gradually behind the Earth...
in 1958 on the budget label, Somerset Records. The album is a compilation of classic songs and jokes featured in American minstrel show
Minstrel show
The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the Civil War, black people in blackface....
s, a form of entertainment that was popular during the later 19th and early 20th Centuries. Because of the often negative stereotype
Stereotype
A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
s of African-Americans, the genre quickly lost public favor with the birth of the civil rights movement
Civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...
. Although the recorded material is not original, the fact that the album simulates a live stage performance (without actually be derived from such a performance) makes it a form of album musical. Epic Records
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
released two minstrel show recordings of its own a few years later called Gentlemen, Be Seated! and its sequel, Gentlemen, Be Seated! (Again). Similar albums were created that simulate old vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
and burlesque
Burlesque
Burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects...
shows.